(rating: PG-13) =================================== Episode 414: The Second Time Around =================================== *** [title sequence] *** November slowly slipped away and turned into December on Hinansho. The major attacks had stopped. Weeks passed without a full-scale alert, which in its own way was a great relief for the valkyries. A second problem had arisen however, which Eileen termed the 'annoyances.' The first came two days after the attack on Valhalla. It was a Saturday. Jen strolled along a downtown street in Nagano-2, on her way to a music shop. Since arriving on Hinansho, she had been working off and on with the alto saxophone, admittedly with little success. She had quite a way to go before she could really call herself competent with the instrument. In any case, she needed some valve oil for the sax, thus the trip downtown. Musing on this, and thinking also of the fingering for a piece she was working on, she was caught unawares by the screams of terror just ahead. The redhead glanced up, bracing for an explosion, a fire, or most likely one of the huge monsters they had been fighting since September. Then she saw the commotion, and there was only one thing for her to do. "Orion Crystal Power, Make-Up!" Thus transformed, she raced towards the disturbance, forced to dodge panicked shoppers who were trying to get away from whatever was the source of it all. Finally, she found herself in front of an Italian restaurant. She was well acquainted with it, having gone there numerous times to sample their lasagna. That alone was enough to send her to new heights of anger. "How DARE they attack the best lasagna in light years!" Sailor Orion rushed into the restaurant, not bothering to call in backup. The first thing she saw was what looked for all the world to be a giant ziti. "Ziti?" she asked no-one. "Who the hell comes up with this?" The laugh that threatened to erupt from her mouth was cut off when the pernicious pasta shot a stream of tomato sauce at her. Even from her distance she could feel the heat; it would have burnt her badly if she hadn't dodged. Another stream came, and Sailor Orion thought to deflect it with her sword Kedalion. She glanced down at the blade, now coated with melted cheese. "Right, that's it." She glared at the nefarious noodle. "You're going down, pasta-boy!" Had she been less annoyed she probably would have been deeply embarrassed over her impromptu speech, but the beast's smaller size gave her more confidence. "Orion Saber Disruption!" she called, going through the motions. Her aim was true as the killer ziti crumpled into a puddle of carbohydrates, sugars, and something else. The rush of the kill dying down, Sailor Orion narrowed her eyes and walked forward into the kitchen. The place was in ruins; here an oven was overturned, there two baskets of tomatoes had been smashed to pulp. More disturbingly, three cooks lay motionless on the floor. She crouched down next to one of them and found that he was still breathing, at least. Similar inspection found that the other two were also alive, just unconscious. Moving on to what had caught her attention the first time, she saw it, sticking up out of the puddle she had just fought. The senshi bent over to look at it more closely. "A card?" The puddle dried into a line of ashes, which then vanished. *** The 'annoyances' made many repeat appearances, all falling into the same general pattern. Annoyance pops out of nowhere, attacks several people by draining their energy, can't be stopped by conventional means, has to be defeated by one or the other senshi. Chemical analysis of the sparse remains showed no match with youma or any other previous enemy. There was a seventy-five percent correlation with a short-lived species known as cardians, but Antares was a bit cautious about the data. "I'd like to have more information, really," confided Antares to Jen as she sat brooding in command and control. She had taken another day off to figure out the situation, fully aware she was falling behind with her classes. It was fast approaching the point where she would have to take a leave of absence and have a more permanent substitute take over for her. Damn shame, too, as teaching had done so much to take her mind off the planet's various problems. "But?" she asked. "But the last four you fought didn't even leave ash. They must be getting weaker." "I've got no complaints," said Jen. She leaned back in her seat. "It's just tiring, is all. One per day for two weeks . . . how much longer can we keep this up?" "By my estimates, three-" "Don't tell me, Antares, just don't." Jen sighed and massaged the bridge of her nose. "I'm going to take a drive. Vanessa, you're in charge." "Aye, sir." *** Stopping by her home to change into some jeans, University of Hinansho sweatshirt, and light winter jacket, Jen drove to the university itself. Specifically, she pulled into the parking lot nearest the sciences building that held the biology, psychology, chemistry, and physics departments. Her destination was physics, in the basement of the building. Walking down the hallways, she wondered why it was so dark. She'd been in psychology a few times, and it was definitely much brighter than this. Half the lights in the hall were off, and most of the classrooms were dark and silent: unusual for the middle of a school day. Finally, she came to and knocked at the office of Dr. Etsuya Shiotani, chair of the physics department. "Come in!" Jen opened the door. "Ah, Sakachi-sensei!" said the burly old man, smiling and bowing effusively. "Shiotani-sensei," replied Jen, bowing. "Any progress?" His face fell. "Not quite," he began sheepishly. "We've-" He was cut off by a wave of Jen's hand. "Don't worry about it, Shiotani-sensei. If you'll excuse me?" She picked up a stack of papers from a battered yellow couch which sat beneath a chalkboard absolutely coated with equations. Glazing her eyes at the writing on board--which was actually a developing theory of faster-than-light communication--she sat down and spread her arms across the back of the couch. Shiotani sat down on top of his desk to face Jen. "Etsuya . . . I don't think I've really told you how much you've helped in the last few weeks." The physics professor waved his hand. "It was nothing." "Nothing? You and your students have saved this planet many times over! The gertie systems, the lifts, Antares . . . the scientists of this university have been great! I've got a whole stack of recommendations on my desk; I want medals for all of you. I know it can't be enough to repay what you've done-" "Sakachi-sensei, we'd do it for free. Now stop worrying and come along with me, I want to show you something." The two went out the door and down two flights of stairs. "How many subbasements does this place have?" asked Jen, looking nervously at the slightly damp walls. "Just three, a fourth is planned in a couple of years. Sakachi-sensei, how much do you know about modern quantum field mechanics?" "Um, just a tiny bit at the School, and most of that was propulsion." "Good, that's just what I'm talking about. You understand the basic principle of the Fold drives we use to cheat the light-speed barrier?" "Erm., I think so." She had barely survived her physics courses because of the fiendishly difficult math involved. They left the stairwell to find themselves in a damp and very cold hallway. "Then you understand that one of the principles of using a Katajisto field to move a ship is symmetry. A symmetrical field produces a nice ripple in space-time that allows a ship to travel from point A to point B without actually moving along line AB, right?" "Right." That much she understood, at least. "An asymmetrical field, however, will cancel out a symmetrical one. That's why it took so long to discover the properties of a symmetrical field." He came to one of a number of closed doors and punched a combination into a keypad. It beeped satisfactorily, and Shiotani gestured for Jen to step into the lab, which was only slightly brighter than the hallway. He lead her through the lab, which was filled with all sorts of equipment the history teacher could make neither heads nor tails of. "The reason I'm telling you all this is because of what we're working on. One of our priorities since this mess started has been establishing contact with Earth." Jen nodded. The similarities with her time on Pleiades were too striking: alone on the frontier, with no way to report home on what was going on, and little hope of assistance until the next supply ship arrived shortly after Christmas. "It would help so much if we didn't have that stellar interference," continued Shiotani. "Even if we couldn't contact the Moon, they'd know something was up with our silence. But this star . . . everyone knows it's susceptible to this sort of thing, that's why this world was passed over as the new seat of government. There's no way they could know this blackout is different from any other. "So, we've been trying to punch through the jamming. One of the first things we thought of was Engineer Bennington's ploy on H.M.S. Pleiades." Jen looked up sharply at that, surprised that Shiotani's line of thought would parallel her own. "Despite the brilliance of Bennington's idea, it won't work in this situation. He only had to overcome the lack of a telepath. Now, with psi-repeater satellites, we just have to find a way to get the signal through the jamming. As it turns out, there are two solutions." Their path through the lab ended abruptly, at a heavy metal door plastered with almost every imaginable warning label. "A bit of a joke," explained the physics professor, "it's perfectly safe." He didn't notice Jen cringe as he pulled a handle, causing the door to creak open. "The first solution is to initiate a low-level fold from here, stick the communication signal in the envelope, and aim it at earth." He smiled slightly as Jen gasped both at his words and the room they had just entered. It was completely empty, save for a single oblong silver cylinder resting on its side in the middle of the room. Jen looked over at Shiotani. "Is it safe?" He nodded, and she stepped forward to inspect it more closely. There were few markings on it, and those that were there were similar to what she'd seen once or twice on torpedoes. "Solution one is not a real option. The tidal forces created by the field would tear a large chunk of the planet apart. That's bad," he added in a softer, self-mocking tone. "So, this is solution two. We package the whole deal in a standard torpedo casing and shoot it outside the ecliptic. There, we can safely activate it and send a distress call back to Earth." "Is that possible?" "If we can get it up in the air, pointing in the right direction, and manage to give it enough fuel, then definitely." Jen smiled. "How soon will it be ready?" "Um, it's not quite that simple. You see, getting it into the air would be difficult enough. Ideally we'd use a chemical rocket, but we sort of don't have any of those. So with your permission, of course, the plan would call for one of our remaining fighters to take it into orbit and then let the device's thrusters work for itself." "Kinda small, though," said Jen dubiously. Shiotani sweatdropped. "That would be the next problem: how to fit the thrusters, guidance, fold drive, and power plant in the casing. We haven't figured out how yet." "How soon?" she asked again. "We don't know." Jen scowled. "Look, we're doing the best we can, Sakachi-sensei. Considering we're trying something that no-one has ever attempted before, you might want to give my boys a bit of slack!" Jen bowed her head. "Sorry, but you do understand that we need help immediately. Sailor America and I can't keep this up forever." "Yes," replied Shiotani, "we're trying." He coughed nervously. "So, assuming things work out on your end . . . you would need some sort of diversion, wouldn't you? I doubt the enemy will stand still while we try to put something into orbit." "Yes," nodded the physicist. "Any help you could give would be crucial." "You'll have it. I don't know how, but you'll have it." She reached out a hand to stroke the slender cylinder. "This is our best chance out of this mess, and we won't allow it to be squandered." *** Several days later, Jen sat in her study. On various shelves and spare chairs were books and papers from her teaching. They had lain untouched for days, though. She didn't know how far along her students were, and somehow it didn't seem quite as vital anymore. The day before, she finally did what had been almost inevitable: made arrangements for a permanent substitute to take over her classes. She knew she no longer had time for teaching, not when the defense of the entire planet lay on the shoulders of her and her lover. The redhead ran a pencil through her hair and sighed, turning another page. Another one of the never-ending status reports to read through: threat assessments, intelligence reports, budget requests; the list went on and on. She couldn't handle it herself anymore; the valkyries came by twice a week to help her sort out all the data, and Antares did his best as well. Despite all this, she was still basically the commander of the Hinansho Defense Force, as she was contemplating renaming it, and unless she wanted it to become the Hinansho Resistance Force, she had some work to do. Eileen knocked gently on the wooden door before entering. She bore a tray with a teapot, cup, saucer, and sugar, and gently placed it down on a small table set up just for that purpose. "How's it going?" "Slowly," replied Jen. She took off her glasses, blinked, and then replaced them. Eileen read the tension in her lover's face and immediately went behind Jen to massage her shoulders. After a minute of this, Jen began to relax into her seat, relieving some of the stress that was building up. Eileen stopped for a moment to pour Jen a cup of tea, which the redhead thankfully sipped. "The council met again today." "Did they?" asked Jen. She didn't know; she hadn't left the room since mid-morning. "Yeah. Half of them want to cut the pretenses and just make you interim governor. You, I, and the rest of your, well, our staff have pretty much taken over anyway." "The charter says-" "Jennifer, forget the charter. The reality is that we're in charge. They want to make it legal. Let's not stop them, okay?" Jen blinked at the sudden forcefulness and craned her neck to look behind her at Eileen, who had resumed massaging her shoulders. The normally playful and relaxed brown eyes were unreadable now. "Okay," she nodded. "They can go ahead. It'll be a pain explaining it to Her Majesty, though." Eileen's reply was cut off by the ringing of both their communicators. The two sighed in unison and pulled out the devices. "Sakachi and Pearcy here," said Jen. "Please don't say it's another annoyance." *** "No sir, it isn't," answered Kim. The black-haired woman sat at her post in headquarters, the late-afternoon sun cutting a sharp diagonal of light across one corner of the far-too-small room. Around her, chaos banged at the door as the normal watch was replaced by the alpha shift. Kim yawned; she had just clocked out and was walking to the parking lot when the alert came in. "This looks like one of the big ones." Kim blinked as her superior said a bad word. "Yes sir, the anomaly is just north of the city and moving south rapidly. It hasn't made any overtly threatening movements." A pause. "Yes, they're already evacuating." Another pause. "Ten minutes, fifteen at the most. I can feed you the coordinates if . . . ah, okay, there you go. Okay sir, good luck." She closed the connection and opened another. "Go to first stage alert!" *** Sailors Orion and America reached the point of last contact with the enemy, having decided to take a car instead of running. It was a normal street corner, with a few three-story apartments all around. "Kim," said Sailor Orion into her communicator, "did anyone get a visual on this thing?" "No, just the odd power readings that matched those of the target that destroyed Valhalla." "You know I hate when you do this to me." "Sorry," squeaked Kim, and the connection fell silent again. The two senshi popped out of the car and walked cautiously, each covering the other's back. "So-" "There!" screamed Sailor America, pointing down a street. She was answered by a streak of flame, which both senshi dove to avoid. "I think that was him," said Sailor Orion calmly. "What makes you say that?" asked Sailor America sarcastically, scrambling to her feet as Sailor Orion did the same. The two stood for a moment against the cold brick wall of an apartment building, facing away from whoever had attacked them. "That looked a lot like the guy we faced in Valhalla!" exclaimed Sailor Orion. "Impossible," began Sailor America, but they both knew that the mysterious stranger looked just like him, and the one in Valhalla hadn't been destroyed. At least, they hadn't seen him destroyed. "What do you think he's doing now." Sailor Orion was one step ahead of her, already speaking on her communicator. "Do you have any cameras in a position to see it?" she asked Kim. "No, the only one nearby was a traffic camera, and it's been knocked out." "Great." Sailor Orion looked at Sailor America. "One of us needs to go out there and see what's going on." "I will." "No you won't, I will." She held up a finger to forestall any argument. "You'll cover me." Sailor America seemed about to protest, but thought better of it. "Okay." "On three. One, two, THREE!" Sailor Orion raced out into the intersection, as Sailor America poked her head around from the side of the building with her hands raised in an offensive posture. Sailor Orion blinked. She had expected to be faced with a hail of fire, not . . . nothing. "Stay careful, Jen," said Sailor America, her breath condensing in the winter air. The redhead nodded once and crept forward slowly, waiting to be attacked. Nothing happened. "You know," said Sailor Orion, "maybe-" She was cut off by the sound of an explosion two blocks away. "-not," she finished, looking up. A cloud of smoke was rising in the distance. A thought occurred to her, and she pulled out her handlink. Sailor America was soon at her side. "What is it?" "Just checking what's in that direction. Dammit!" She brought her gaze up into Sailor America's brown eyes with fear and anger. "One of the Gertie stations is there!" Sailor America gulped. In the brief time since the attacks had begun, a half dozen of the devices had been constructed and strategically placed around the city. The idea had been that they would be able to reach one no matter where in the city they were. It had been a good idea, but now it seemed that their enemy aimed to take away that ability from them. Worse, they were already certain that only Gertie assistance could defeat this enemy. Sailor Orion spent all of two seconds thinking it over. "He's going to go after the next Gertie; it's twelve blocks away." Sailor America made a burst of mental arithmetic and came to the obvious conclusion. "Let's go." Immediately afterwards, the two were running at full speed towards the location of GS-03, racing against time to save the weapons they needed now most of all.